Well, its been awhile but I finally got around to finishing my wifes 1K rifle. I tried to talk her out of the 6.5mm Allen Mag chambering because this will be a relatively high volume shooter but she insisted and told me that I can change the barrel when needed just fine and that she wanted "only" a 6.5mm Allen Magnum!! So be it!!!

Nothing really new except for the Defensive Edge muzzle brake. This is the first one I am testing and I really like them so far. I just got the rifle finished and only have one shot through it but I can already tell Shawns brakes will do anything the Hollands will do. They also have some features I like better then the Hollands.

First, I actually like the design of the Defensive Edge brake a little better for my Allen Magnums, let me explain why. First off, when your dealing with a large capacity small bore chambering like all my AMs, you are working with alot of muzzle pressure.

Muzzle pressure is what makes a brake work. The amount of muzzle pressure along with the design of the brake determine how efficently the system reduces felt recoil. Most partition style brakes are pretty efficent at reducing felt recoil so they all pretty much behave the same.

I have found however with the Holland, as good as they are and I think they are one of the best brakes on the market, when using them with my Allen Magnums in bench rifles or in lightweight hunting rifles, there is enough muzzle pressure that the vertical ports on the Holland actually produce more down thrust then is wanted.

With lightweight hunting rifles this has really been the case. What this does is actually cause a reverse problem of muzzle jump, in fact muzzle drop. This has no effect on accuracy or consistancy as long as the shooter does not try to compensate for this down force which I have witnessed many times because they have not felt this sensation before. Just a natural reaction to some degree.

In a bench rifle it is not as big of a deal but I have noticed a few rifles that would be pushed down enough to change the sight picture for spotting your own shot placement.

Simply put, with a Partition style brake such as the Holland and Defensive Edge brake, there is really no need for top ports and in the case of chamberings like my Allen Magnums or even RUMs or the big Wby rounds, they can actually produce some unwanted forces.

Other things I like about Shawns brake are that they are made from true 416 stainless steel which matches most barrel steels perfectly or extremely close. It is always best to make a brake from the same steel as the barrel so the two componants "play well" together. Sometimes they will not if they are differnet steels.

Finally, they are fully machined, not cast and then threaded. As a fellow machinist, I just like the idea of a fully machined brake instead of a cast one. Is there any real difference, really only in thread quality I would say. The threads will be higher quality and with no taper on the Defensive Edge brake compared to most other brakes that are not fully machined.

Another nice thing is that Shawn makes a brake that is a perfect match to the muzzle on a 30" #8 Lilja barrel diameter wise such as the one on this rifle.

I will be fitting one of Shawns smaller diameter brakes to my lightweight 7mm AM here very soon and will be giving a full performance report on that design as well.

Back to my wifes rifle. I will be starting the barrel break in this week and hopefully have it ready for next week to start some serious testing. Hope to get some 165 gr class ULD RBBTs from Richard soon for testing. This is the reason I went with the 1-8 twist.

Hope to get into the 3250-3300 fps range with this bullet weight. Should not be a real problem, my 257 Allen Mag will top 3300 fps with a 156 gr ULD RBBT in this length barrel so we should be able to get there.

I will also be trying some 142 gr SMKs to see where they let loose at. I suspect this rifle will top 3500 fps with this bullet weight. We will have to see if this bullet will take it accurately.

More to come soon on the rifle and the Defensive Edge muzzle brakes. So far I am very impressed with them both.

That is one fantastic looking rifle and I bet I know who picked the colors [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

It must be nice having your own personal gunsmith that also happens to be wrapped around your(her) little finger. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] She obviously knows she doesn't have to worry about barrel life like the rest of us might be. She just sends it to the shop with her "smith" and gets a new barrel. And......thats the way it should be at home. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Looks like a very impressive list of components and we know the workmanship is the best so I'd say she's all set up. You Allen guys better look out now. It looks like there might be another Allen doing some long range shooting. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Tell her she did gooood, and has a gun she can be very proud of. Keep us posted with pics and results.

I think I am really going to like the Defensive Edge brakes. The one for the smaller diameter barrels is a totally different design, smaller in diameter, a bit longer and with large round ports on the side instead of elongated ovals. Also the top of each port is releaved slightly to offer just enough vertical muzzle control. I really liked this brake design the first time I saw it and suspect it will perform extremely well.

Shawn knows his stuff requarding all aspects of building a rifle, far more advanced then I am but I am learning from the best in my opinion.

Yep she picked out her own colors on that one. If your looking for a stock to stand out and catch your eye, this one would be very hard to beat. I actually have grown quite fond of the color scheme.

There is no doubt about her shooting ability. She will put me in the dirt if I do not really pay attention. She is very deliberate, even what I would call slow to shoot sometimes but when that tigger does break, you can bet the shot is on the money, that is if I have things set up and tuned correctly.

Once we get her broke in and the load developed I have no doubt she will be in the 1K club very quickly!!